A document from 1546 shows that he was master of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke , he had a companion. He worked for the Antwerp publisher Hieronymus Cock , Hans Liefrinck I , who was his brother, and Bartholomew de Momper . Together with his brother Pieter Huys , he also worked for Christoffel Plantijn .

The earliest dated work by him dating back to 1555 . His work consisted solely of etchings, and he reproduced only the work of other artists. He was strongly influenced by the Italian art of etching, probably at the hands of Giorgio Ghisi , with whom he collaborated.

Huys engraved many portraits of rulers of his day, humorous genre scenes by Cornelis Massys , etchings and drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder , as Skaters for the St George Gate and Battle in the Strait of Messina .